Was it better before? | The Press

The first episode of the fiftieth season of the cult show Saturday Night Live was seen three weeks ago by more than five million viewers. This is its best audience in four years. What was attracting the attention of the American public at the time? A color clue: orange…

Back in 2015. Saturday Night Live (SNL) was roundly criticized when the legendary comedy show invited Donald Trump to host one of its episodes. The following season of SNLwhich coincided with the election and arrival at the White House of Donald Trump, was the most listened to in 20 years. Alec Baldwin’s exaggerated pout perfectly captured the character’s grotesqueness in the face of a wordless Hillary Clinton (Kate McKinnon, terrific).

Eight years later, Alec Baldwin does not seem to be at the end of his troubles in the case of the weapon responsible for the shooting of his film Rust. It’s Dana Carvey as Joe Biden and Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris who steal the show at the start of the season marked by a new presidential election over which the threat of The Yellow-Orange Shadow still hangs (our greetings to the admirers of Bob Morane ). Thanks to these two ex-SNLits pre-credits has once again become essential.

49 years ago, on October 11, 1975, the very first episode of what was then called Saturday Night was broadcast, live from 30 Rockefeller Plaza – 30 Rock – in New York. A young Canadian of 30, Lorne Michaels, had gathered a group of young comedians mostly in their twenties, spotted in improv troupes such as Second City in Chicago and Toronto, and had convinced NBC to give them a chance in front of the cameras.

Montreal-born filmmaker Jason Reitman pays homage to the famous show in his new film Saturday Nightshot “in real time” to reflect the frantic 90 minutes which preceded the live recording of this historic episode, hosted by a George Carlin who had coke in stock (our greetings to Tintin admirers).

We find behind the scenes of Saturday Night those who were nicknamed the Not Ready for Prime Time Players (John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Dan Aykroyd, Garreth Morris and Laraine Newman), who revolutionized American television with an absurdist sketch comedy show designed by and for the baby boomer generation. It’s a nostalgic look that almost imposes this eternal question: was it better before?

I was barely two years old when SNL was born, but it’s a show that had a profound impact on my adolescence and that I’ve been following more or less assiduously for 40 years.

I was surprised, when I saw Jason Reitman’s film, to see to what extent the formula of Saturday Night Live has not changed in five decades. No doubt because Lorne Michaels is still the big boss.

Also, I was surprised by the number of sketches from this first era that I know, by dint, I suspect, of seeing compilations of the best moments of the show. Andy Kaufman and his unforgettable number lyp-synch from the theme song of Mighty Mousewhich Milos Forman recreated for his film Man on the Moon in 1999. The famous cooking show parody of Julia Child (Dan Aykroyd, who grew up in Hull) cutting her finger and pissing blood. Garreth Morris as a prisoner singing “I’m Gonna Get Me A Shotgun (And Kill All The Whities I See)”. Eddie Murphy, who was only 19 when he started SNL in 1981, in his hilarious subversive characters inspired by Gumby, Buckwheat or Mr Rogers.

I started to watch Saturday Night Live “live”, or rather on Sunday morning on videocassette, when Lorne Michaels returns to the helm after a hiatus of five seasons. He resigned in 1980 along with all of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players (including Bill Murray, who arrived in 1977 after the departure of Chevy Chase).

I remember Dana Carvey’s Church Lady from the 1980s, her duo of Wayne’s World with Mike Myers (another Canadian) in the 1990s. From the great era that followed with Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon, Adam Sandler, Tracy Morgan and Jimmy Fallon. From the late Norm MacDonald (originally from Quebec) at the helm of Weekend Update or even Rob Schneider, who recently became a supporter of Donald Trump.

The beginning of the 2000s was undoubtedly a golden age of broadcasting: the end of boys’ club of SNL, under the leadership of the brilliant Tina Fey as main writer, along with Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch (the irresistible Debbie Downer), Ana Gasteyer and later, Kristen Wiig.

The false advertisement of mom jeansimagined by Tina Fey, remains one of my favorite sketches. Who would have predicted that these high-waisted jeans would be fashionable among young people, 15 years later?

Since then, there have been, among others, Jason Sudeikis (the future Ted Lasso), Seth Meyers, Andy Samberg and Cecily Strong, Colin Jost and the star of the current troupe, Bowen Yang (also a former Montrealer), as well as the excellent Keenan Thompson, who is in his 22^e season, an absolute record.

The quality of the shows, since its beginnings, varies greatly and depends on the quality of the authors, hosts and guest artists. Was it better before? We always remember the cream of the crop, the ones who eventually rise to the surface.

Saturday Night is presented in theaters this Friday